Human Powered Helicopter Record Attempt June 20th will witness a new attempt to claim the $250,000 prize offered by the American Helicopter Society. Pictured here is Judith Wexler in her Gamera I helicopter built by the University of Maryland’s Team last year, setting a National Aeronautic Association’s sanctioned record of 11.4 seconds. This month’s attempt […]
New 5-place Turbine OH-6 (369) Hughes Helicopter $27,000 – by Jack Schweibold. That was the winning price for an Army helicopter in 1965: $27,000! This article is the forth in a series by Premier Jet Aviation remembering fifty years in development of the Light Observation Helicopter. The Hughes OH-6 (Model 369) was the eventual winner […]
OUR MAGIC CARPET – As we venture through this tumulus election year many of our readers will have opportunity to fly various candidates and officials. Today most of them are pretty air savvy but just a few years ago I picked up one of our “fearless leaders” in Indiana and was surprised to find him with […]
HELICOPTERS BACK IN CHICAGO! It has been over fifty years since city administration kicked helicopters out of the Windy City and almost a dozen years since they bulldozed the runways on Miegs Field … it’s taken until now for the Fed’s to bring big Sikorsky’s back over the Loop. Few people remember or even knew […]
Rotorcraft R&D Continues to Faster Horizontal Flight as Prototypes Meet Milestones. By Paul Pitts. | The JetAv Blog As the AW609 Civilian Tiltrotor development program (formerly the joint venture between Bell and Agusta Westland) continues to move forward, other large players in the rotorcraft industry have used the 609 program delays to develop their own […]
Bell 206 (OH-4) First Flight by Jack Schweibold | The JetAv Blog. Yes, a half century will elapse this year since its first fight on November 8th, 1962. The OH-4, father to the B206 Jet Ranger, was Bell’s entry in the Army’s Light Observation competition. This article is second in a series evaluating the three […]
That’s what Bell Helicopter Engineering said during high altitude flight testing in their Model 206L3, “You may go supersonic going through 29,000′ … as least the tail rotor, that is”. Strange phenomena always seem to pop-up in the aviation business. This author will be looking at some of these areas over the next few weeks: from winning […]
Sikorsky S-76D Program Update by Paul Pitts | The JetAv Blog. Three S-76D™ helicopter prototypes are in flight test at Sikorsky Aircraft’s Development Flight Center as the aircraft continues to mature in flight test and post excellent performance results. Commercial Programs Director Dan Hunter said the S-76D prototypes have logged more than 850 flight hours […]
Helicopter Operations To Return to Downtown Chicago by Paul Pitts | The JetAv Blog. Aviation Facilities Company, Inc. (AFCO) has announced that AFCO Nighthawk Vertiport LLC, a joint venture between AFCO and Nighthawk Services LLC, has been selected by the Illinois Medical District Commission (IMD) to develop a vertiport/heliport, on a 10-acre site in the […]
Bell Moves to “Game Change” With Its New Super-Medium 525 Relentless by Paul Pitts | The JetAv Blog. At Dallas Heli-Expo 2012, Bell Helicopter announced the new Bell 525 Relentless “super medium” helicopter. This helicopter is Bell’s entry into the large helicopter market as the oil and gas customers require lift capabilities to go farther […]